Anton Krupicka Registers for 2021 Leadville 100

by Chase Parnell — March 29, 2021

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Here’s my click-baity one-liner to start this thing off with a bang: Looking forward to the 2021 racing season, I would rather see Anton win Leadville than see an American male win UTMB for the first time ever. I don’t care what anyone says, a renaissance by Anton, where hypothetically he puts all the pieces together and we get to see him break the tape at the race where it all started for him, I can’t imagine a situation that would create a greater collective fist pump from the ultrarunning community at large. I mean, I was screaming at my TV when Walmsley was sprinting to the finish at Project Carbon X2, just a handful of seconds shy of the 100k world record; if I’m in Leadville or watching the live feed and Anton comes into the finish line frame in 1st, well… let’s just say I’m going to need a minute.

Do you remember when Rob Krar won Leadville in 2018? He’d been battling some injuries during the couple years prior and it seemed like everyone was starting to feel like he just didn’t really have the same stuff as he did when he won Western States in 2014 and 2015. Watching Krar cross that finish line with arms raised was a moment of triumph for all of us I think. Krar’s vocal battle with depression only heightened this sense of relief and he put the exclamation point on it by not only winning but being within striking distance of Matt Carpenter’s seemingly unbeatable course record.

Why am I talking about Krar in an Anton fanboy article? It’s because whatever that emotional reverberation we experienced with Krar, I think it would be 10x that if Anton pulled off a win at Leadville. Why? Two reasons. First, if you are in your 30s or 40s and you got into ultrarunning pretty much at any point when Anton was racing, odds are, he was probably one of your primary inspirations. He’s not everyone’s cup of tea, but if his story resonated, you read his blogs, you watched the films, you rooted for him at all the races. You also probably have your own personal pinnacle running memories that are intertwined with the Anton era narratives. Or maybe you were struggling through some of life’s rougher experiences and the elite ultrarunning scene was one of the few escapes you had at the time. Clearly my Anton fandom is irrational; I’ve never even met the guy, never even seen him in person! But he is the guy I always followed, even when I battled anxiety, when I suffered through law school, when I met my wife and had a child. And so in some strange way, when you follow someone’s story for long enough, your arcs can become tethered; their failures can somehow end up feeling like your failures. When they succeed, you think you might be able to succeed too.

The second reason it would be so satisfying is because it’s been pretty damn rough to be an Anton fan since… oh, 2015! There’ve been a lot of ups and downs and false starts and what-ifs. The cycle of injuries have been BRUTAL! And yet, despite missing the playoffs year after year, we of course keep following along. He still inspires the hell out of you because his appetite for endurance sport is so mind-blowing, moving outside for 30-40 hours a week. And let’s not forget that he really was one of the best ultrarunners in the world. People roll their eyes at that, but the guy won Leadville twice and finished 2nd at Western States in a time of 15:13 (still the 10th fastest time ever on the all-time list). Jurek, Jornet, Swanson, Clark, Sharman… never once ran faster than Anton. He came into Champex-Lac, 75 miles into UTMB, in 2nd place in 2013 (his race recap). I don’t care that he ended up dropping out due to injury; he was in the hunt for the win on the biggest stage and had his hamstring not locked up…. see, a lot of what-ifs. I think the haters tend to reduce him to some sort of one hit wonder or something, like all he ever did was win Leadville a decade and a half ago. He won Lavaredo in 2014!

All that to say, a lot of us obviously want Anton to finally be able to let that competitive creature out again. He’s never been shy about how he loves to race and I really don’t think he’s done yet. He has the lifetime endurance base and the talent and an obvious aptitude for a course like Leadville. He just needs to get to the start line healthy.

Okay, enough of this semi-embarrassing homage to Anton. Let’s hear what he himself said about entering the 2021 Leadville 100. Huge shoutout to the Leadville race organization and interviewer, Becki Lynn Lassley, for pinning him down in this instagram live session and making him answer all the viewers’ cringey questions, one of which was mine. So go run all their races, do their training camps, buy all the schwag.

The Announcement

It was an hour-long chat and the topics were wide ranging to say the least. Someone asked him if the winter beanie he was wearing during the interview was the one he would wear at Leadville. Anton’s response: “No.” Someone asked if he would ever run Barkley… “No. That’s a hard no.” Someone asked him what his dream retirement would be. He said, “I can’t answer that question.” Someone even asked if he was still wearing the minimalist shoes and I wanted to virtually backhand whoever said that. It’s like some of these people watched Unbreakable for the first time the day before and didn’t realize that race took place in 2010. Finally, we got to some interesting discussion regarding Leadville.

Question: “Are you running this year [Leadville]? Rumor has it you are running this year.”

Answer: “Well, I am signed up. I signed up just like two or three days ago. I did my third 20-miler this morning in the last three weeks so I’m building to something. I hope to do a 50 miler later this spring […] I feel like my fitness is coming around to where I feel like I could handle 50 miles and depending on how I feel with that is how I’ll probably make a final decision about whether or not I’ll try to build to Leadville. So, I want to. I mean I wouldn’t have signed up if it wasn’t something I wanted to do.

You know, it’s a race I’ve done five times and as I’ve gotten older, and I’ve raced all over the world… to me, variety and the course itself, none of that really matters. It’s more about the community and the atmosphere around the race, and kind of like the history with an event. Leadville has all of that for me. And personally, I just really enjoy competing, in whatever venue. […] You know, Leadville is just a couple hours away from the Front Range where I live so it’s super accessible. I’ve always loved that area of Colorado, the upper Arkansas River valley, I’ve spent so much time there. Yeah, I’m excited to hopefully go back there this year.”

Question: “What’s your weekly mileage look like heading into 100 mile races?“

Answer: “Preparing for a race like Leadville this summer, if I end up doing that, I don’t think I’ll get over 70 miles a week. Right now I’m running about 50 miles a week and biking maybe 300-350 on top of that. And yeah, that’s probably what it’ll look like. The most important thing will be getting in a gradually increasing long run and I’ll do a 50 miler before. I always like to do one 50 miler before a 100 mile race.”

Question (the one I asked): “What 50 miler are you thinking about for a tune up this year?”

Answer: “This spring, I was thinking about Quad Rock here in the backyard up in Fort Collins. Or, I need to get online and see what the status is, but the Jemez 50 down in New Mexico is one that’s always interested me. I’ve raced it once; really enjoyed that race; really like that part of the country. But I know the Covid restrictions in New Mexico have been quite a bit more strict than in Colorado so I don’t know.”

Quad Rock 50 is set to take place on May 8th, 2021, six weeks out from this publication. Looking at the ultrasignup, Jackson Brill would be tough to beat in a 50 miler.

Jemez 50 is set for May 22nd, 2021, eight weeks out. Anton won this race in 2014 during his buildup to Lavaredo.

The Believer vs. the Analytic

This isn’t the first time I’ve written about Anton. Last year, about this same time, I wrote an article called Welcome to Your Annual Anton Krupicka Comeback Story Fix. As the title indicates, this isn’t the first time we’ve gotten our hopes up; the realist knows that there is a high likelihood that Anton won’t even make it to the start line at Leadville, let alone win it. What’s actually more likely is that an injury will arise and he’ll move on to other outdoor objectives on the bike or rock wall. I like that he said he won’t run more than 70 miles a week in the build-up. That kind of restraint was hard-won but we’ll have to follow his training on Strava to see if he can stay true to the claim.

I’ve caught some blowback from certain people out there in the community for being unrealistically optimistic about how some runners might perform. Before the 2020 Hong Kong 100k, I was hyping Jared Hazen’s chances of winning (he finished 5th), before the Olympic Trials, I was rooting for Jim to not only perform well but to make the Olympic team! He finished 22nd. What can I say? I’m a believer in the impossible; I’m an emotional being and I choose to see our sport through that lens. I like to get caught up in storyline and think about someone having a massive breakout and miracle performance. In this case, we’re going to need a miracle just to get Anton to the start line.

So I’m not as much of a realist or as analytical as some would like me to be; sometimes I think with my heart instead of my brain. But who are we kidding? A lot of people do this. It’s the same reason why you always pick your team to make it a little deeper into the March Madness bracket than they’ll actually likely go. As if to do any differently would somehow affect their chances. I do firmly believe that on any given day, given the right alchemy, someone can run out of their minds. Similar to what happened just last week when the 39 year old Brit and newly minted father, Chris Thompson, set a personal best and won the British Olympic Marathon Trials, punching his ticket to Tokyo. After the race, in this emotional 60-second post-race interview, he said, “I feel like someone is going to tell me this didn’t happen. I’m 39! This doesn’t happen!” Well… it did.

I know this is a reach, but come on! Anton is going to make it happen. Whether it’s this year or the next or the next or the next. He’ll get it done and win another big one. So meanwhile, I’ll be here, checking in on his training, reading his adventure reports, listening to the interviews, and keeping the hope alive. Why? Because even after all these years, it’s really damn fun.

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